Other Shoes
Summary Elevator Speech Other Shoes is a game that allows the player to put themselves into someone else’s shoes, so to speak. The player takes the role of a detective with an experimental new technology that allows them to transfer their consciousness into someone else. Utilizing this technology, they investigate guests at a high-end social event where are all suspects of a murder. These suspects have "friends in high places", and must be investigated through subtle means. Perfect evidence must be found, or they will get off scott-free, and the case will forever go unsolved. Gameplay The majority of the game consists of puzzle-solving elements, in the form of dialogue trees and questioning. The player must gather facts about the suspects by conversing with them. They must also make observations of both the crime scene and the event, to find incriminating evidence. By linking the evidence to a character with the facts about them, the player attempts to accuse the murderer. At any time, the player may switch the character they are controlling. This allows the player to experience the situation from many different perspectives. The murderer for each session is randomly chosen from every possible character, as is the cast of five or so suspects. Every character has some secret to hide, so this will provide many “red herrings” to mislead the player. There may be a timer that limits how much investigation time the player has before they must make an accusation. Player Mindset The player is meant to take on many different perspectives over the course of the game, and as anyone could be the murderer, this serves to force the player to break common biases they may hold. So while the player’s mindset may be one of suspicion and doubt towards the characters’ statements, it requires them to treat all characters, regardless of race, gender, sexuality, religion, ect… Technical Platform This game will be made for the PC, with the intent to distribute through Steam, with possible Oculus Rift support. Controls This game will use the standard WASD/Arrow keys for movement, with horizontal movement done via turning rather than strafing that is common of first-person games. The mouse will control look direction, with a gradual movement towards where the player is looking. Mechanics/Systems The primary gameplay mechanic is the conversation system. Since the player is talking to suspects through the body of each other, subtlety is required. As such, they must use the personalities of the characters to gain trust with, and reveal facts about, the other characters. The personalities of each character are defined by a set of stats. These stats are important whenever a question is asked. The WIP names of these stats are: Cheer, Wit, Courtesy, Intelligence, Empathy, Ego, Logic, Openness, Attention, and then there are a set of three variable stats, which are: Trust/Familiarity, Suspicion, and Stress. The set of nine static stats are grouped into Pathos, Logos, and Ethos. The character’s trust stat determines how much the player is able to find out. The higher the trust stat, the more can be discovered, and the fewer lies will be told. To increase the trust stat, the player must converse with them to become more familiar. Conversation is generally a chain of questions asked by the player. There are four different types of questions available to the player to ask: Basic, Personal, Informative, and Appeal. Basic questions are simple conversation, and require little to know stat requirements, and do nothing but increase trust with that character. Personal questions ask about mood or personality, and are the primary method the player has of discovering the character’s personality stats; but they require a certain amount of trust to get a true answer. Informative questions give the player facts about the character, but require a much higher amount of trust. Appeal questions are situational questions, and often appear in response to successful personal or informative questions. A successful appeal question will insure a true answer, and provide extra information. These appeal questions require a bit more interaction, however. The aforementioned stats and stat groups are what are used during appeal questions. For any given question, there will be a set “defending” stat. The player must choose between one of three appeal methods; Pathos, Logos, and Ethos. Once chosen, the highest stat of the controlled character within that group is chosen, and put against the defending stat. If it is higher, the appeal is successful. Failed questions have varying results, most of which involve raising suspicion. Suspicion is a negative “multiplier” stat, which causes trust to raise at a slower rate. If suspicion is maxed out, the questioned character will refuse to talk to the currently controlled character any further. This will require the player to transfer to a different character, and try again. The trust stat is individual to each character pairing, so the trust stat will be reset. However, discovered stats and facts will remain unlocked. The final stat, stress, shows how much stress the character is feeling. This stat will rise when they are lying, or speaking about something uncomfortable to them. This is the player’s method of knowing when a character is lying, but it is not 100% accurate, as there are external forces that could be causing the stress. One more facet to this system is “Introspection”. This is essentially a conversation the player has with the currently controlled character, most often taking place while looking at the character’s reflection. There are some limiting factors to Introspection, and many higher level facts will be unavailable through this method. Within the game’s lore, this is due to a privacy module set in place to prevent illegal accessing of thoughts and memories. During introspection, the suspicion stat is even more important, as if it reaches maximum, it will kick the player out of that character’s mind, and force them to transfer to a different person. Design Locations The game will include a few different locations, but only one at a time will be available to the player. The locale is randomized per case, but doesn’t have much effect on the overall murder, as the crime scene is separate from the event location. The environments include: Ballroom, Dining Hall, Garden, Lake, Library, Courtyard, and Lounge. (With more, time permitting) These locations must be large enough for an average of five characters, with scenery and props. Game Flow 1. New case opened 2. Crime scene description given 3. Enter event, and transfers to first character 4. Begin initial observation of the environment 5. Strike up first conversation 6. Fails first few questions, and raises suspicion too high 7. Player can choose to attempt conversation with same character, by transferring to a different character a. OR can talk with another character and investigate them 8. Start to ask successful questions, and get better knowledge of the character 9. Continue to transfer between characters and gain facts 10. Switch into observation mode, and search for clues 11. Find clues that might be linked to characters 12. Ask more specific questions and gain more facts 13. After enough info is gained, or time runs out, make an accusation 14. Link the evidence of the crime scene to the character with facts 15. Find out if guess was correct or not, and if enough evidence was found Graphics The game’s aesthetic consists primarily of noir or neo-noir style. Sharp contrast with lots of blacks and whites, with occasional vibrant colors. Whether it is realistic or stylized is dependent on time restraints and skill. The art style has to allow for enough detail to tell characters apart at a glance, and feel natural in the 3D depth allowed by the Oculus Rift. UI elements will be of slightly modern/sci-fi design. Most of the game is played through the UI, so focus must be given to it. Font choice will be essential to this game as well. Graphics Needed 20 character models 5 environments, with about 8 unique props for each 30 models of small objects, for pieces of evidence 1 victim model, with different variations for different murders 3 skyboxes (day, sunset, night) Sounds/Music A jazzy/blues style for the music is the best fit for this game, but some bits of electroswing could enhance it as well. There should be a heavy emphasis on brass and piano instruments. Generally, a slower tempo is desired, but for moments such as the accusation, a faster paced song should be used. The sound effects for speech could be voice acting, but with time restraints, something more similar to RPG text sounds should be used. Realistic sound effects for most actions should be used, with UI sounds being very simplistic, akin to old computer sounds. Sounds Needed TBD Music Needed TBD Current Contributors/Devs: Lead Dev: [[Erika Gronquist]]